I hope you are enjoying what’s left of the summer. It certainly doesn’t feel like hockey season, but I assure you that the Northwestern board members and volunteers have been hard at work planning for the upcoming season. Just last week, several volunteers drove themselves to West Haven to meet with scores of other schedulers from around Connecticut to create the game schedules for our travel teams. Those schedules will be slowly “filling in” on each teams’ schedule on our web site in the coming weeks.

Practices for our travel teams begin in earnest in September. Midget tryouts are scheduled for later this month. Midget and In house registration is ongoing. Socks are being ordered. Jerseys will be distributed. Coaches are getting their certifications in order. The practice schedule is under development. Contracts with our primary rinks (Canterbury, Gunnery, Rumsey Hall and Danbury) will be negotiated. Lazy days of August? I don’t think so!

Wesco Power Play Weekend

Another thing you can count on in August is the Wesco Sports Power Play Weekend! It’s coming up this August 17, 18 and 19. We hear there will be cool raffles, giveaways, and maybe an NHL player or two! Stop by their store on Federal Road or visit www.wescosports.com. Wesco has always been a strong supporter of Northwestern Hockey and 20% to 70% savings are hard to ignore!

Skate-A-Thon

Don’t forget to get working on those pledges for the upcoming Skate-A-Thon on September 1st. Pledges are due by August 25. For details, visit the Skate-A-Thon Information Page.

Board Matters

For the past year, the board of Northwestern Hockey has been working hard to create an environment of openness and inclusiveness. After all, we are all volunteers and members of the same program that you are. You should have access to much of the same information that we do, so we have created a “Board Room” section on our web site. In there, you will find the minutes of our meetings, our organization’s bylaws, and financial documents such as our adopted budget and our IRS Form 990 filings. I’m sure we will add more information in the future. And, don’t forget that our meetings are open to any member. The meeting schedule is posted on the web site calendar. The regular schedule gets adjusted for holidays, but we generally meet at 7pm on the first Sunday of each month in the Brodie Room at the Canterbury School.